Effects of titanium dioxide structure and cobalt addition on the catalytic properties of ru/tio2 in the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol

Abstract

Furfuryl alcohol, an important intermediate for the production of many fine chemicals, is typically produced by the selective hydrogenation of lignocellulosic biomass-derived furfural using supported metal catalysts. In this research, 1.5%wt Ru catalysts supported on nanocrystalline TiO2 were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method. The effects of crystallographic of TiO2 and Co addition in the range of 0.2-0.8 wt% on the catalytic properties of Ru/TiO2 were investigated in the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfural alcohol at 50°C, 20 bar of H2, and 2 h reaction time. It was found that Ru supported on anatase phase TiO2 exhibited the highest conversion of furfural and selectivity of furfurly alcohol at 32 and 90%, respectively. The anatase phase of TiO2 may promote adsorption of hydrogen atoms than rutile. The addition of a small amount of Co in the Ru/TiO2 anatase improved the catalytic activity and furfurly alcohol selectivity with the 1.5%Ru-0.6%Co/TiO2 showed the best catalytic performances with 92% conversion of furfural and 97.5% furfurly alcohol selectivity. It is suggested that Co addition increased the Ru-Co particles size and enhanced the interaction between Ru and Co as shown by the TEM, H2-TPR, and XPS results.